Serviced offices operator Stonemartin will be wound up in the New Year after its shareholders today approved the sale of its operating subsidiary to Regus.
At a general meeting this morning shareholders voted in favour of selling Stonemartin Corporate Centres and then cancelling Stonemartin’s listing on AIM.
It is being bought by business rival Regus, headed by Mark Dixon, for a sum believed to be up to £1.5m.
Stonemartin’s future has hung in the balance for some time after it appointed Jones Lang LaSalle to raise third party finance last August. Its management agreements were also terminated on three of its four buildings.
The sale is expected to complete shortly, Stonemartin said, and the cancellation is expected to take effect from 5 January 2009.
Following the cancellation the company, which will change its name to Eagle Realisations, said it would return cash to shareholders as quickly as possible through a solvent winding up of the business.
'We intend to appoint a firm of accountants to carry out some preliminary work which we anticipate will facilitate a move towards a solvent liquidation early in the New Year,' said Stonemartin chairman Richard Mead.
Timothy Worboys, Stonemartin joint managing director, who had responsibility for operations and sales, has now stepped down from the board, as announced at the end of November.
In its latest accounts Stonemartin recorded profits of £7m, largely due to the compensation it received for management contracts it lost in Birmingham, Reading and Leeds.
